Besteuert die KI

Wenn ich Unternehmer bin und eine Arbeit zu vergeben habe, zahle ich bei einem Menschen Sozialabgaben und Lohnsteuer. Lasse ich die Arbeit einen KI-Agenten erledigen, zahle ich das nicht. Die KI wird vom Steuersystem also bevorzugt.

Das ist keine theoretische Überlegung: Ich arbeite derzeit daran, einige Prozesse künftig von KI-Agenten statt Mitarbeitenden erledigen zu lassen.

Die Politik muss sich etwas einfallen lassen, schreibt auch Bill Gates:

I believe we should tax AI tokens and robots. Right now, if you’re an employer and you hire someone, you pay payroll taxes on their earnings. But if you buy a robot, you can usually write it off right away as a business expense. The tax system nudges you toward replacing people with machines.

A tax would slow the rush away from human labor a little and raise money for retraining and a stronger safety net. It would need to be targeted so it does not slow down the purely beneficial uses of AI, like making medicine and education cheaper.

Critics of this idea point out that it’s not optimally efficient in an economic sense, but they’re not considering the broader value of work for individuals and society. And with all the accelerated innovation we will have, we’ll be able to afford a little inefficiency as the price for keeping people employed.

I proposed a robot tax years ago and most of the reaction was that it was a strange idea. I’m still a big proponent of it. Although it is not the whole solution to the threat of AI, it is part of a wise response.

However we raise money for more assistance, it needs to reach the people who need it most, including workers who lose their jobs to AI and robots, people whose hours or wages decline, and communities where the losses are concentrated. We need to start doing that work now so that the systems are ready when the need becomes acute.

Der ganze, viel beachtete Aufsatz von Bill Gates zum Thema KI. Für jemanden, der viel zu KI liest, ist sein Letter wenig aufregend. Ich teile seine Aufforderung, dass sich Politik und Zivilgesellschaft schnell organisieren müssen.